Form maintainer for hats



Feb. 5, 1957 V. H. SEVERY FORM MAINTAINER FOR HATS Filed June 15, 1953 IN VEN TOR. /C70, hf 551/259) United States Patent F FORM MAINTAINER FOR HATS Victor H. Severy, Santa Rosa, Calif.

Application June 15, 1953, Serial No. 361,740

1 Claim. (Cl. 2-185) This invention relates to an accessory to be employed, or worn'with hats, and particularly soft hats of the type known as Fedora hats.

The great popularity of hats of this type or style is due largely to the fact that they are much more comfortable to the wearer.

The style or formed shape of these hats changes from year to year occasionally in obedience to the decree of the powers that be in the world of style artists. But composed of soft felt or similar material as these hats are, they have the objection that they do not retain or maintain their original stylish shape.

One of the objects of this invention is to produce an inexpensive, easy manufacturable device capable of being worn within such a hat, and which will operate effectively to maintain the hat in its original styled form, or shape.

Another object of this invention is to give a form to this accessory that will adapt the device to be readily reformed to enable it to conform to changes in style of hats appearing from year to year, assuming of course that the change in style is not too radical.

The invention consists of the novel features of construction and form that characterize this article as will be described in the following specification, and set forth in the appended claim.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a perspective of a felt hat of the type and style such as referred to above.

Figure 2 is a plan of a more or less diagrammatic nature, of the hat shown in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a vertical cross-section on a larger scale than Figure 2, taken through a hat such as illustrated, said section being taken about in the plane indicated by the line 3--3 in Figure 2, and showing this accessory also in section and in place within the hat.

Figure 4 is a section similar to Figure 3, taken about in the plane of line 4-4 of Figure 2 but looking forwardly.

Referring more particularly to the parts, 1 indicates a hat of the style known as a Fedora hat. It is indicated as having a somewhat unique disposition of the crown 2, in which its top portion or panel 3 is disposed in a slightly depressed position and connects to the vertical wall of the crown by a roll or widely folded edge portion 4. At its forward portion the crown has somewhat greater height than at the rear, that is to say, at the point 5, so that the recess 6 that is formed above the crown portion 3 is somewhat shallower at the front than at the rear.

The hat brim 7, as usual, extends in a general horizontal direction, and such a brim usually has a slightly turned up edge or roll 8 (see Figures 1 and 3).

The hat shown in Figure 1 is illustrated as though shaped in a prevailing style, in accordance with which, at the front and on the sides, just to the rear of the point 5, the material of the crown holds itself in a shallow concave depression 9 which extends rearwardly. This depression dies out at the front edge 10 of the crown and at a point 11 toward the rear but somewhat forward of the transverse medial axis of the crown.

In Figure 3 this form maintainer 12 is shown in transverse cross-section, taken about in the plane ofthe line 22, Figure 1. In this figure the observer is looking toward the back of the hat.

Figure 4 is a section on the line 44 through the accessory but does not show the hat.

In producing the accessory 12 for a hat of this style, preferably molded of a thermo-plastic shape self-sustaining material, and of uniform thickness; that is to say, it maintains its own molded shape, it presents a cover portion or panel 13 which is substantially horizontal or slightly crowned. It inclines slightly upwardly toward the front, that is, toward the point 5 toward which point it tapers in width. As a result this portion of the form-maintainer presents inclined extensions 14 that connect the narrow portion 15 into the forward portion 4a of the roll 4.

On account of the tapered form toward the front of the hat, the inner side of the form maintainer presents two convex cheeks 16 on its inner side which converge toward each other in a forward direction, and as they approach the point 5 they present two convex outlines 17 converging toward each other in an upward direction.

In order to have this accessory conform to the stylish recesses 9 it is necessary to form a narrow waist portion 18 at the level of the recesses 9, and the shape at this point, of course, conforms in outline to the outline of the inside, convex, side of the recesses 9. Below this waist the width of the form maintainer widens out into an ogee curve as at 19; and below the ogee curve, the wall of the accessory becomes substantially vertical at the point where it intersects the lower edge 21 of the forward end of the article.

The rear portion of the accessory which fits to the portion of the hat that we might call its rear half may be considered as presenting a substantially typical cross-section, that is to say, this part of the crown presents sidewalls that curve slightly inwardly and converge slightly in an upward direction.

In sum, it can be said that the outer face of the accessory conforms to, and lies substantially against, the inner face of the wall of the crown at all side points and also above, under the panel.

In order to support the accessory within the hat, I prefer to form it with downwardly extending integral tongues that are preferably four in number, including a tongue 22 at the rear, on the vertical medial plane of the hat, a similar integral tongue 23 at the front, also symmetrical and tapering downward, like the rear tongue 22; and in addition to this I provide two side tongues 24. These tongues preferably provide rounded tips 25 to facilitate the insertion of the accessory into the hat from below; in accomplishing that the sweatband as of the hat is preferably folded downwardly as indicated in the dotted lines in Figure 3.

In order to give flexibility to these tongues to enable them to assume a more or less concavo-convex form to fit to the curvature of the crown, where they are located between the sweathand and the lower edge portion of the crown, I prefer to form the tongues with. tapering openings 27. These openings conform substantially to the cuneiform shape of the tongues with their edges substantially parallel to the side edges 28 of the tongues.

By forming this article of a suitable composition of thermo-plastic it is feasible to reform it by heating it and pressing it between the faces of two moldl sections of the proper shape, that is, it can be adapted to slight changes in hat styles, but of course if the new style is so different as to cause radical changes in the form and dimensions of the accessory, this would not always be possible.

Many other embodiments of this invention may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

As a new article of manufacture, an unattached, removable, self-sustaining form maintainer adapted to be worn in the interior of a felt hat having a sweat band attached to the lower edge of the hat s crown, said maintainer being formed of sheet material presenting an upper wall for supporting the top of the hat crown and a side wall extending completely around the upper wall for supporting the side walls of the hat crown, said maintainer having two tapered extensions with convex edges at their tips extending downwardly from the lower edge of the said side wall at the sides of the hat maintainer and similar extensions at the front and back of the maintainer,

for positioning between the sweat band and, hat crown,

said maintainer being composed of thermo-plastic-material capable of maintaining its shape at usual atmospheric temperatures and capable of being softened at higher temperatures to enable the same to be changed in shape. I

References Cited in the file of this patent 4 UNITED STATES PATENTS Hausinger Aug. 6, .1918 2 Belgium May 2, 1950 

